“Pistol and rifle”: Personnel file of Smith, Aug. 13, 1932, FBI/FOIA.
“the older type”: Personnel file of Smith, Oct. 22, 1928, FBI/FOIA.
“He is exceedingly”: Louis DeNette to Burns, June 2, 1920, FBI.
“Unless you measure”: Hoover to Wren, March 28, 1925, FBI/FOIA.
“The Indians, in general”: Report by Weiss and Burger, Dec. 31, 1923, FBI. Prior to Tom
White’s taking over the investigation, Burger had worked on the case with Agent Tom F.
Weiss; all of Burger’s reports were filed jointly with him.
“any of these dissolute”: Report by Weiss, Nov. 19, 1923, FBI.
“PROCEED UNDER COVER”: Harold Nathan to Gus T. Jones, Aug. 10, 1925, FBI.
10: ELIMINATING THE IMPOSSIBLE
One after the other: My descriptions of the bureau’s investigations into the murders come
from several sources, including FBI reports; agent’s personnel files; grand jury
testimony; court transcripts; and White’s private correspondence and writings.
Finally, Agent Wren arrived: Wren also pretended at times to be representing certain
cattle interests.
“Wren had lived”: White to Hoover, Feb. 2, 1926, FBI/FOIA.
“My desk was”: Grand jury testimony of Horace E. Wilson, NARA-FW.
“I don’t know”: Ibid.
“made a diligent”: Grand jury testimony of David Shoun, NARA-FW.
“When you have eliminated”: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (London: Spencer
Blackett, 1890), 93.
“It is a matter”: Report by Weiss, Sept. 1, 1923, FBI.
“I never had a quarrel”: Report by Burger and Weiss, April 22, 1924, FBI.
“very self-contained”: Ibid.
“Were you thick”: Report by Weakley, Aug. 7, 1923, FBI.
“We interviewed”: Report by Weiss and Burger, Feb. 2, 1924, FBI.
“unusually shrewd”: Ibid.
“Talks and smokes”: Ibid.
“This arrangement”: Ibid.
“He may efface”: Tarbell, “Identification of Criminals.”
When Hoover became: The bureau’s Identification Division initially collected fingerprints
from files maintained by the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth penitentiary and by the
International Association for Chiefs of Police.
“the guardians of civilization”: Quoted in Powers, Secrecy and Power, 150.
“We have his picture”: Report by Weiss and Burger, Feb. 2, 1924, FBI.
He reported back: Morrison initially claimed, falsely, that Rose implicated her boyfriend.
“Why’d you do it”: Report by Weiss and Burger, Feb. 2, 1924, FBI.